Dattatray Vithoba Bharne
Dattatray Vithoba Bharne is an Indian politician. He is a three-time MLA for the Indapur Assembly constituency, having first won election to the post during the 2014 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election. He is a member of the Nationalist Congress Party and the Ajit Pawar faction of the party during its 2023 split. He is currently an MLA and the state sports and youth welfare minister. Previously, he served as a minister in the Thackeray Ministry and as the Guardian Minister of Solapur District.
Bharne was born into a wealthy farming family and has completed a Bachelor of Commerce degree. He became Director of the Chhatrapati Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana in 1992. He also joined the Pune District Central Cooperative Bank as a director in 1996, becoming head of the bank in 2000. In 2002, he also became head of the Karkhana.
Political career
Bharne contested and won the 2014 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election in Indapur constituency as a candidate for the Nationalist Congress Party. He also won re-election in 2019, serving as a minister in the Thackeray Ministry and as the Guardian Minister of Solapur District. In 2023, during the Nationalist Congress Party split, he joined the Ajit Pawar faction of the party. In the 2024 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election, he contested the election on a NCP ticket against NCP(SP) candidate Harshvardhan Patil and local NCP leader Pravin Mane, who contested as an independent. Bharne won the election by a margin of 19410 votes. He was later made the state sports and youth welfare minister. He was reportedly initially angry over his portfolio, refusing to answer calls from Ajit Pawar and going overseas with his family to express his discontent. In May 2025, Bharne was made president of a newly formed committee to restructure Maharashtra's youth policy. This committee was criticised for its lack of women and opposition MLAs.